Paul Yarrow — star of BBC1, ITV, Channel 4, Sky News and even the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network — has appeared on television more than 100 times this year. The only problem is that the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky News and Al Jazeera don’t want him to be there.

What they want is for their TV reporters to be left in peace. What they don’t want is Yarrow — a balding, fat man who often wears a wrinkled white sweater — popping up behind their star correspondents, distracting viewers from the Very Important News that they are trying to deliver.